Posted Fri Nov 24 04:25:12 EAT 2017

Amateurs may teach golf but not earn from it

By VINCENT WANG'OMBE

In Summary

If an amateur golfer gets paid for teaching golf under any other circumstances, then the Kenya Golf Union would not be remiss if they stripped them of their amateur status.

I would however hope to see more university students playing golf and competing at the highest level.

Ditto for camps or similar organised programmes. In these two instances, the amateur golfers training duties must not take more than 50 per cent their time.

The only other time that an amateur golfer may receive payment for giving golf instructions is when involved in a programme that is approved by the Kenya Golf Union.

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I joined University of Nairobi back when we used to get money directly from the KCB cashiers, unlike the “Chania’s Eleven” who did it through a tunnel.

We would walk up to the cashiers with our ‘magic cards’ (student ID card) and walk out with Sh5 million in cash; well, okay, it was Sh5,380 but it sure felt like Sh5 million.

The allowance, also known as “boom”, filled us with majestic arrogance.

Professor Francis Gichaga, when welcoming us as freshmen, told us that our years at the university would be the most memorable in our lives. That, they were.

Among the gems of wisdom he shared with us that day, was that we should never visit hall 14 alone. At that point I did not know that University of Nairobi’s numbered halls of residence went up to 13.

Hall 14 was the name given to a pub on Muindi Mbingu Street called Afro Unity. Hall 14 was always open, day and night, and a number of students would spend a good part of their ‘boom’ there.

There was one thing the good professor encouraged us to do; it was to participate in sports. When the “boom” ran out, we would spend a lot of our free time watching or participating in different sports.

In those days, there were some great sportsmen and women at the University. Mean Machine with players like Sammy Khakame and Paul Murunga were no pushovers in the Kenyan rugby scene.

Neither were the Terrorists with the late Michael Muhoro and Gringo, whose grace on the basketball courts was always a pleasure to watch.

The one sport that was virtually unknown by University of Nairobi students in those days was golf.

We did not have any golfing activities despite several colleges being close to golf clubs. Indeed, Vet Lab Sports Club is within Kabete Ng’ombe Campus (College of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences) land.

This is where I was last week at the Inter-University Tournament and met a few university students who were there competing for their respective universities.

Eric Genga led his team from University of Nairobi to a well deserved victory. He managed to play an impressive 42 stableford points off 25 handicap.

Genga is one of the few university students who have taken up the sport and are putting in the practice time to ensure that they improve their golfing skills. The one thing that I kept wondering when talking to these students was whether they have a coach.

Some, I found out, are self-taught while a few have had some formal lessons.